Hot, dry weather has B.C. firefighters on high alert

Gordon Hoekstra, Vancouver Sun07.28.2014

A wildfire rages near Banff on July 8, 2014. Hot, dry weather has B.C. firefighters on high alert.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

Research scientists from the B.C. Ministry of Forests and the Canadian Forest Service have been setting experimental fires in a beetle-killed forest south of Vanderhoof (the Carrot Lake Research Forest) to better understand the behaviour of wildfire in dead pine stands. Photos courtesy of BC Ministry of Forests.

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

B.C. firefighters head off to do battle with a 10,000-hectare blaze about 120 kilometres west of Quesnel. Crews have been busy this year with more than 700 fires as a result of hot, dry weather, particularly in north and central B.C. The province has had to call on about 500 out-of-province firefighters for help. Photo credit: B.C. Wildfire Management Branch.

Here are some spectacular photos of the Banff forest fires on Hwy 11 and Hwy 93 taken on July 8th.Amanda Nand
/ Special to PNG

More than 2,700 firefighters are battling 92 wildfires in British Columbia, including northern hot spots that could flare up with more hot and dry weather forecast in the next week.

The fire season has been so busy that B.C. has had to call on about 500 out-of-province firefighters, mostly from Ontario and Quebec. Another 600 to 800 local contract firefighters are helping supplement the B.C. Wildfire Branch’s 1,400-person cadre.

It’s a hot, dirty and smoky job, where firefighters put in long days, as many as 12 hours a day, for stretches of up to 14 days, and have to contend with the dangers of falling snags and trees.

There have been no major injuries this year.

While the firefighters are supplied with all the food they can eat and all the water they can drink, they must sleep in tents in the remote areas they are sent to.

“We’ve got a lot of firefighters up in northern B.C., so we’re trying to take advantage of this temporary lull (in fire action). We’re also trying to use these out-of-province and contract firefighters to give our crews rest days,” said B.C. Wildfire Branch officer Kevin Skrepnek.

“Typically, the end of July and August is the core period, so there’s more fire season to come,” Skrepnek said.

Firefighters have to be in top physical shape, and are required to pass a rigorous fitness test each spring. At the same time, they go through training to sharpen their skills and knowledge.

Work for firefighters typically runs four to eight months of the year. Because the height of the season coincides with university and college summer breaks, many firefighters are students, noted Skrepnek.

First on the scene are the three-person crews that parachute into fires and other special crews that sometimes rappel from helicopters. Their job to try to put out spot fires before they grow larger.

On bigger fires, the main crew’s job is to put up fire breaks by clearing trees from the fire’s path, or to establish water lines if there is a lake or river to supply water nearby.

“It’s a pretty dirty, pretty dangerous job,” Skrepnek said.

There are times when firefighters are crawling on their hands and knees, feeling with their hands for hot spots under the ground, he said.

While major fires have largely been put under control in the Southern Interior, half a dozen major fires continue to burn in the North.

The Smith Creek fire in West Kelowna is completely contained.

But while firefighters are starting get control of the 44,000-hectare Tenahiki fire in a remote area west of Williston Lake and about 500 kilometres north of Prince George, it is only 30 per cent contained.

Firefighters are also getting a handle on the 33,000-hectare Red Deer Creek fire near Tumbler Ridge in northeast B.C. and the 10,000-hectare Euchiniko Lakes fire west of Quesnel.

An evacuation alert remains in place for the Chelaslie River fire, which, at an estimated 52,000 hectares (the largest in the province), is more than 120 times the size of Stanley Park.

There are 60 firefighters working on that fire, and also equipment such as bulldozers and helicopters.

Firefighters have set up sprinkler systems to protect a number of cabins in the area.

Unprecedented hot temperatures and dry weather earlier in July — where the thermometer reached 40 C in some parts of the province, coupled with storms that brought lightning — heated up the fire season.

Of the province’s 700 fires that have been ignited this season, 300 have been started by lightning. The other 400 were started by people.

All of the six big fires in northern B.C. were started by lightning, while only two of the seven remaining significant fires in the Southern Interior were caused by lightning.

An estimated 189,000 hectares of forest and land have burned this year.

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Hot, dry weather has B.C. firefighters on high alert

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